Happy (belated) birthday, Dalai Lama and Lauren!

Our youngest daughter shares a birthday (yesterday, July 6th) with the Dalai Lama. I don't know why, but it makes me incredibly happy to know that.

Senator Al Franken.

What a bittersweet day in Minnesota...Senator Al Franken was sworn in today as the junior United States Senator from Minnesota, replacing Norm Coleman. Video is at this story link. Senator Franken took the oath with his hand placed on Senator Paul Wellstone's Bible. Senator Wellstone was Jewish, as is Senator Franken...but the Bible contains both the Old and New Testaments, and was given to Paul by his wife, Sheila, when they were married. Both Paul and Sheila died, along with their daughter Marcia and several campaign aides, in a plane crash in 2002.

Attention Husbands: Hire Newsweek To Spin For You

President Obama told an audience in Moscow that he met his wife "in class." Newsweek "fact checks" the statement and finds it...um..."technically" untrue--because, er, well, he was "in school" at the time. Michelle got her degree in 1988 and Barack graduated in 1991.

Mark Hemingway calls Newsweek out.

Next time you husbands embarrass your wife publicly by not remembering a significant relationship detail, I bet you wish a major media organization would step in and spin it for you. Alas, you'll have no such luck.

I can see Newsweek starting up a spin service that offers an explanatory phone call when husbands "misremember" events: "Well, TECHNICALLY, the gift did not arrive on Valentine's Day, but..."

We interrupt your nonstop MJ funeral coverage to bring you:

BAD PAINTINGS OF BARACK OBAMA . COM!!

Be sure to click on the home page image at least a dozen times; some of them are real gems. And yes, that really is the White House in Barack Obama's mouth.

You know, because it's WHITE. Like TEETH.

The Failure Of The Stimulus

Behold the danger of the Internet: it allows citizens to hold their elected officials accountable--and to engage in straight-talk about the issues of the day. Before you know it, we'll have an enlightened populace demanding that their politicians keep their promises.

And so: the failure of the Obama stimulus plan rendered in pennies. Beware though, this isn't complex analysis featuring pompous verbosity heard often on television news programs. It's the dreaded "Sarah Palin-style" simple talk.

Kal Penn In Da House

Tara and I recently watched the movie titled "The Namesake" which featured actor Kal Penn in a prominent role. Tara recalled all the "hubbub" when Penn announced that he is taking a sabbatical from acting in order to accept a position with the Obama Administration. After all the initial flurry of reports over Penn's decision, he disappeared from the public radar screen. Tara wondered if Penn had actually reported for work at the White House.

He did so this week. He's ditched his Hollywood name and is now known as Kalpen Modi, associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement. Which sounds rather romantic, when you think about it.

Oh, By The Way--There's A New US Senator

Al Franken's legal wranglings with Norm Coleman truly come to an end today as he is sworn in as the new US Senator from Minnesota. As he takes the oath, you can expect an eerie silence to pervade the upper chamber. Because everyone will be outside the room, watching non-stop, commercial-free Michael Jackson memorial coverage.

Eek! It's The Ghost Of Michael Jackson!

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller

They could always send in the "Ghost Hunters" to investigate. It could be a special Halloween episode. Of course, all the cameras would be trained on the investigators who would make shocked faces when they claim to be seeing something that the viewer never actually sees.

Michael Jackson to be buried at...Forest Lawn, of course.

John Denver's catchy tune "Forest Lawn" will be stuck in my head as we near the end of the beginning of the post-Michael-Jackson era. Michael Jackson will be buried (not cryogenically frozen, but maybe plastinated) at the legendary Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles. As Denver sang:

I wanna go simply when I go,
they'll give me a simple funeral there I know.
With a hundred strolling strings
and topless dancers with golden wings,
Oh, take me when I'm gone to Forest Lawn.

Here's a list of other famous long-term residents of Forest Lawn. Among them...Humphrey Bogart, Nat King Cole, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and many more.

Update: Now the media is unsure as to whether Forest Lawn is, in fact, his final resting place. My theory: they are going to put his brain back in--and he'll magically come back to life like Frosty the Snowman.

Are We Making Our Kids Depressed?

I was visiting a big box retailer this morning and wandered through the book section on my way to my usual visit to electronics. Here's what caught my eye: the young adults' fiction section.

Here's how the books were lined up on the top shelf: one book featured a young girl, face down, long hair covering her face--it was a story centered around the theme of teenage alcoholism. Next book: another girl, face down, long hair obscuring her face, with the cover indicating that it was a story dealing with "teenage promiscuity." Next book: a cover photo featuring a girl with eyes cast down but short hair. This story promised to focus on "teenage bullying."

Check on this week's top 10 songs in "mainstream rock." Most of the songs deal with anger or depression--with the exception of Nickelback's new release.

Is this why kids flock to the theater to see Harry Potter vanquish evil or vampires/werewolves pledging eternal love to their teen aged girlfriends? Our movies and music seem to be lacking in some real world positive narratives for teens.

My Favorite Moments In My Favorite Songs

MP3 players are wonderful things. You compile lists of your favorite songs and play them while roaring down the road on a summer day.

Everyone has a list of favorite songs--but several songs came up in the last few days that contain my favorite MOMENTS in music. It's that pivotal point that takes a song from good to rock'n'roll hall-of-famer in my mind.

Example: the moment that Paul McCartney intones "get back, Jo!" just before Billy Preston launches into the funkiest keyboard solo in rock history.

Of course, there's the moment that Ronnie Van Zant orders that you "turn it up" as the guitars kick in on "Sweet Home Alabama."

The opening siren of "Runnin' With The Devil" has sent many a party into a frenzy over the years.

Try to keep from reaching for the volume knob when a certain guitarist yells "move over Rover...and let Jimi take over!"

Top 10 Manly Movie Deaths

Let's face it...I've never had the urge to view "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being" on July 4th weekend. It's the weekend for manly movies featuring dudes blowing up bad guys and dying noble deaths.

In that spirit, All Top Movies offers up the "Top 10 Manly Movie Deaths." And, yes, "Goose" from "Top Gun" checks in at number five. Or, checks out, if you will.

The BeeGees can SAVE YOUR LIFE

From CNN, a story of a woman who performed chest compressions on her husband after he suffered cardiac arrest, saving his life. She hadn't ever taken a CPR class, but she remembered seeing a public-service announcement that instructed people to do chest compressions to the tune of the BeeGees' song "Stayin' Alive." She kept it up for 15 minutes...which is a long time to have that song in your head.

Apparently, chest compressions alone, without mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, may keep a person alive long enough for emergency responders to intervene and save their life.

Doctors also suggest chest compressions to the tune of "Another One Bites the Dust."

Your choice.

Helen Thomas Gets Peeved At The Obama Administration

Veteran AP reporter Helen Thomas has made well-known her contempt for some previous Republican presidents. So Thomas is raising eyebrows today by expressing anger over how she perceives that the Obama Administration is trying to control the press.

You can't help but be intrigued by a story that features the theme "not even NIXON did this...."

Update: It is desperation time for some in the news biz, as the Washington Post has been attempting to sell access to administration officials, members of Congress, and their own reporters and editors.

So much better than another Cosmo quiz!

Via Jezebel, a link to a new women's history magazine, sadly titled "HerStoria." The title may be awful, but the concept is great for history and genealogy nerds like me. Here's how the magazine is described on its website:

HerStoria magazine explores the past to discover how the other half lived, telling the story of ordinary – and extraordinary – women. We’ll bring you opinions about the fairer sex from across the centuries, and investigate the ways in which women responded and lived their lives.

I'm listening to Jane Dunn's Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens on audiobook right now (for the second time) and am coming close to the moment when Elizabeth of England finally authorizes the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. It's riveting. I'll be checking out the "HerStoria" website to see what kind of features they share and who their contributors are as the magazine gets up and running.